These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends
by CloudyDream
Summary: She's beautiful and radiant, he's been scarred and broken. When Damon arrives in Mystic Falls a year before the comet, he finds a younger Elena living a simpler life, and a love that consumes.
1. Chapter 1

**_I_**

_ "…And in their triump die, like fire and powder  
Which, as they kiss, consume."_

* * *

"So, how does it feel to be sixteen?"

Miranda smiled to her daughter as she handed her a plate, and Elena shrugged.

"Well, you should know, right?" She glanced down to the plate in front of her –toast and fruit and a slice of cake. She gave out an eye roll. "Mom, I can't eat all this."

"Of course you can, love." It was classic Miranda Gilbert, Elena thought, firm and smiling, that polite non-nonsense look in her eyes.

"Jeremy, do sit down," she added, and Elena smiled. Her brother had become more closed lately, up to his neck in that awkward, no-one-understands me phase she was so glad to have skipped. It was hard, she supposed, waking up one morning to realize you've grown up too soon and left your friends behind, like Jeremy seemed to have done. Or maybe she was worrying too much and her brother didn't mind; Jeremy was fourteen and moody, and it was all too complicated for Elena to pay attention. _His own stuff to deal with, anyway_.

It would probably all go away soon enough, Elena decided, biting on her toast. _It's all be okay once he starts high school_. Right now, she had a birthday to celebrate.

The sky was perfectly blue and clear when they stepped outside, the warmth of the sun tempered by the crisp coolness of the early morning wind, and Elena was glad for that. She was wearing her cutest tank top, red and pretty and sleeveless, the one that went so great with her new shoes, and it wouldn't do to get sweat on it.

Her father was waiting for her impatiently, tapping his foot lightly on the lawn, and Elena stepped to give him a kiss on the cheek before heading for the car. "Hurry up, let's go!"

Jeremy was already in, headphones blasting some loud rock tune in his ears, and she found herself smiling all the way to school, already tasting the freedom and excitement that came with being sixteen and fearless and about to get a driver's license; and then the car started slowing down as they entered the parking lot, and she smiled even more.

"See you later, Elena." Her father said. "Have fun, sweetie," he added, and _yes I will_.

She was barely out of the car when Caroline moved to embrace her, grinning.

"Here's the birthday girl!" she said. And then, quickly as only Caroline could speak. "Chocolate, right? You mom asked me what you'd like and I thought, I get it if you want to try something else this time, but chocolate will go well with everyone, and it's always really good, so…"

She blinked. "What?"

"I asked, chocolate?" Caroline repeated, slowly, as if she was stating the obvious. "You know? The cake? For that not-so-secret surprise party your parents are throwing you this weekend?"

"Oh." Elena said. "_That_ party."

Caroline shook her head, her face a perfect mirror of Elena's, the faces of two girls who couldn't imagine a worse fate than having a chaperoned birthday party organized by one's parents, and having to wait until the weekend on top of that.

She laid her hand on Elena's arm, and squeezed. "Don't worry, we can save the amazing wild party for next year." They both laughed, content, and they started walking again towards the football field.

The first football game of the season wouldn't be before three weeks, and the first cheerleading competition even later than that, but practice was in full swing.

It was Bonnie's first year on the team, after months of pleads from her friends; but both Elena and Caroline had already been on the squad the previous year, and the blonde was set on becoming captain when Megan Hardin graduated, despite the fact it was a whole year away.

("Isn't a little soon to worry about making captain next year, Care?" Elena had told her when they'd first talked about it. "You're not even a sophomore now, school's not even started yet! Just enjoy your summer."

But it had been useless; no one could make Caroline change her mind when she was set on something. "Junior year will be my year Elena, just wait and see. Cheer captain, Miss Mystic Falls, Prom Queen… I just need to start working on it now."

Elena had laughed. "Whatever, Care." _Don't ever change_.)

And so they were practicing a full three hours every morning, Elena's birthday or not, but she didn't really mind – not when it meant having a chance to watch Matt's own practice with the football team.

"We're going to mine after this, right?"

The words brought Elena back to reality, and she blinked.

"Sure," she said, "great. Your house is closer anyway."

"Okay then." She smiled then frowned, looking behind Elena's shoulder.

"Don't look now, but lover-boy is coming up right _now_," and, when Elena started to stir. "Don't turn, I said. Trust me, just keep looking at me and pretend we're making conversation."

"Class, what about class? I heard from Laura Pelland that we might get Mrs. Mallory again this year, I hope not, she still hates me. I thought we'd be rid of her, I'll never get a decent grade in Algebra with that woman …" And Elena smiled and nodded and pretended to care, heart bumping in her chest in that pleasant way, and managed to stay perfectly still when she felt a warm hand landing on her shoulder.

Elena turned. It was Matt, like she knew it would, but the knowing didn't made her feel any different. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi."

Matt smiled back. "Hi to you."

"…And I think I'm seeing Bonnie over there," Caroline jumped in, and Elena smiled even more, or maybe it was Matt she was smiling for. "Bye guys, see you later!"

Matt had a balloon in his right hand, blue and gold and heart-shaped. _Sweet Sixteen!_, it said, and it should have been the cheesiest thing in the world but somehow it wasn't. _Or maybe it is, and I don't care_.

"Happy birthday," he said, leaning over to hand her the balloon and give her a small, warm kiss on the lips.

"Please tell me you've got cupcakes in your backpack," Elena told him, and Matt laughed.

"What if I do?" his other hand slid into hers with practiced ease and he squeezed, and she squeezed back.

They were still new, her and Matt, still new enough that every day was a discovery, every kiss sent butterflies flying to her stomach, every moment spent in amazement at how easily they'd found each other, how wonderful it all felt.

_I love you_, she'd told Matt hundreds of times, back when saying it was easy all that there was between them was friendship . _I love you_, he'd answered back, every one of those times. And now she raised a little their joined hands to study their laced fingers, all the time thinking about_ real_ love, adult love; and wondering how it would feel and when, and how.

They'd reached the entrance to the locker rooms, and stopped.

"So, where's my cupcake?" Elena asked him, smirking, and he took a rumpled paper bag out of his backpack. "There you go," he said.

It was clearly homemade and smelled like strawberries, and she took a bite, looking up at Matt the whole time.

"You got frosting on your chin," he said, and leaned in to kiss it away. Elena laughed then, loud and clear, and he laughed too; and it was a perfect moment, the two of them so warped up in each other, nothing else really mattered.

The kissed again and went their separate ways, heads over heels, and none of them paid enough attention to notice the crow standing on that tree not quite ten feet away from where they had been, little black eyes following Elena, unblinkingly.

The boy didn't see the crown and neither did the girl; but the crow had seen _her_, and that was how everything began.

* * *

Practice was fun enough, but still dragged slowly, the way it always happened whenever she wanted it to pass quickly. It felt like an eternity when they met up again in the parking lot, showered and changed.

"We should have a girl's night," Bonnie said the moment they were all together, walking towards Caroline's. "No parents _and_ no boyfriends, Elena. I know for a fact that Matt's working tonight, and we haven't done it in _so_ long."

Their last girl's night has been a sleepover back in July, before Matt, when they'd watched a movie and roasted marshmallow in the Gilberts' backyard. _The whole camping experience, without the bad bits_, Bonnie had said that time.

They chatted and exchanged gossip lying on Caroline's comfy bed, trying on makeups and outfits for the upcoming first day of school, emptied the fridge for leftovers and watched a movie after that.

"What about the Grill?" Bonnie asked halfway through the afternoon, as if there were other alternatives. "We can just hang out, have fun."

"I got a better one," Caroline said. "There's some local cover band playing tonight, at that place we went for Amber Bradley's party in June. There's going to be dancing, we can do something different. And…" she gave out a winning grin, "I got Tyler to get us a bottle from his dad's cabinet."

Bonnie laughed. "Is it any better than your stash?"

"Don't you dare, Bonnie Bennett, my stash is the best there is. Tyler's dad is just more loaded."

"Whatever, Forbes." She turned to Elena. "What do you say?"

"Seems perfect," she said.

And it was. They had drinks did their best to get back every one of the calories they'd lost at practice, because she could afford it, if only this once; and _yes_, there was music, and dancing, and when the lights went out Caroline handed her the small bottle under the table. It must have been good stuff, even if she couldn't fully appreciate it, so different from the beer she'd had at parties or the wine she got at home on Sundays. It had a rich, inebriant smell and she took one burning sip after the other, feeling fuzzy and warm and finally, _finally_, sixteen years old.

"Good, isn't?" Caroline grinned, and she nodded.

"Great."

It _was_ great; so great Elena couldn't understand why the Grill didn't have college boys doing gigs more often. They'd gone to Florida on vacation that past summer, two whole weeks in Panama City, and she remembered how _alive_ it all was, how bustling and exciting, compared to the predictable _boredom_ of Mystic Falls.

But even their boring hometown got more interesting during summer, she decided. College students playing with their cover bands had to mean college students in town – passing though it on a road trip, maybe; or looking for those last days of freedom before classes started again. All in all, there were many new faces tonight.

"We should give it a go," she told Bonnie and Caroline. "Look, everyone's dancing, c'mon."

It was strange to see so many new faces in the crowd. Most of them she knew, of course, but for every two or three kids from the high school there was someone she'd never seen before, a friend of a friend or an older relative or an older boy from the next town over.

"That guy's checking you out!" Caroline whispered, excited.

"What?"

"C'mon, he's totally looking at you."

And maybe he was, a blonde with green eyes who looked a few year older than they were, standing not far away with a paper cup in his hands.

Elena closed her and let herself go. One step and then another, and maybe a twirl after that – she didn't much mind what she did as long as she felt herself moving, her heartbeat in tune with the music. _Left, and left, and right_. She felt an half-smile grow on her face, moved closer to the nearest warm body, whoever it was, and they danced in synchrony, bodies close but never touching.

She felt euphoric. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the feeble light, or the fact that so many people here didn't know her, didn't know who Elena Gilbert was, the person she was supposed to be. Someone smiled at her, and she smiled back. Not the same one as before – this one's hair were dark, his eyes bright.

It didn't matter, she realized, and remained dancing in her spot as he came closer, and closer. Where were Bonnie and Caroline? He was right behind her now, her unknown stranger, his breath brushing her neck. She took a step back, a small one, and felt him shivering.

Empowering, she decided. That was the word she'd been looking for.

"Hi," he said, loud enough to be heard among the noise.

"Hi,"

She turned and they danced together, touching but not quite; until the music changed and he moved away, disappearing in the crowd.

_Two ships passing in the night_, Elena thought suddenly, some small fragment of a quote she'd learned long ago and promptly forgotten. Back then, she must have thought it a beautiful one; right now, it was only heartbreakingly sad.

Caroline was in the first place she looked, sat on a stool by the bar, reapplying her eyeliner with a small mirror.

"Is my lipstick really as terrible as I think it is?"

Elena laughed. "You look great, Care." And then. "Where's Bonnie?"

The blonde grinned at that. "Trevor Wright from the football team brought her a drink. Disappeared together somewhere."

Caroline stood up and moved closer. "You okay, Elena? You look a little flushed."

"Fine. Just, the drink I guess." She brought her hands to her forehead, resting her face on her palms. She felt so tired, all of a sudden. "I'm probably just not too used."

"You sure about it?" Her voice sounded concerned. "Hey, are you upset that Bonnie went with Trevor? I'm sure they haven't left already, I can call her if you want…"

"No, no need. It was a great birthday, consider yourself released from friend duty, you and Bonnie can go and make out with whoever you want."

Elena raised her head from her hands, took in Caroline's face, and then the dark smudges on her own fingers.

"Oh, hell, my makeup," she said. "Damn. I made a mess."

"Is not that bad." Caroline offered. "I can fix it if you want."

Elena shook her head. "No need, I think this is just my cue to go home."

"Oh," her friend bit her lip. "You sure? Because Blondie's still checking you out."

She turned and there he was, the same boy as before, a different cup this time, looking straight in their direction.

"I'm pretty sure he's looking at _you_, Care. And even if he wasn't, you know, I _do_ have a boyfriend." She'd never said it out loud before, not even to herself. _Boyfriend_.

"So, you doing window shopping?" Caroline teased. "Looking, not buying?"

Elena laughed. "I guess so."

"You want me to walk home with you?"

Offering or not, they both knew she would rather stay. "Don't worry Care," Elena told her, moving in to exchange a hug. "Have fun, see you tomorrow at practice."

She made her way to the door, stopped halfway, turned.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she called out, and Caroline's laugh followed her all the way outside, echoing among the silence of the night. She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and started walking home.

It was quiet enough that the music still resounded in Elena's hears, the summer air cool compared to the heat of a crowd of moving bodies. It was refreshing, all in all, and she always enjoyed her late walks home more than she would ever admit, the peace that came with it, the muffled background of crickets chirping.

She was hallway home when he saw her again; and this time she was him too, standing on the sidewalk by a tree, leaning on the fence of someone's house.

He was new in town, she decided, must have been, because she would have remembered seeing him before; the same reason why she was sure he hadn't been at the party either. He was without a doubt the best-looking man she'd ever seen, better than every boy in town and half the actors she'd even seen on television, and even more than Mat who, for all his all-American good looks, was still a boy.

She must have stopped, but she didn't remember when. Scared at first, of the dark silhouette barely outlined by the dim light of the streetlamps, and then surprised once she'd seen his face. She was staring, even, and would have been embarrassed to be caught in any other circumstances, but it didn't matter now, because he was staring, too.

"Are you…" He started, tentative, then stopped; Elena's eyes on him the whole time.

The man cleared his throat and started again, more smoothly this time. "You aren't Katherine." He was stating a fact that still managed to sound half like a question, but then he continued, sounding more assured with every word.

"You aren't Katherine, can't be. Who are you?"

It must have been the strangest question she'd ever received, Elena decided. She should have been scared, maybe, and yet she couldn't. It seemed fitting somehow, the dark mysterious man asking strange questions.

"I'm Elena," she said, and saw a twitch on his face. "Who are you?"

"I'm Damon." He sounded much more confident now, smug even; a completely different person.

"Uh."

Because, what could she say now? That was the moment they should apologize and go their own separate ways, and go home and sleep and forget about the beautiful stranger who'd called her _Katherine_.

But then she remembered about the party, and the dancing, and how bold she'd felt there.

"You're staring, Damon," she said instead, the pot and the kettle; but it seemed to surprise him enough that he smiled.

"I'm sorry," he said, sounding as if he actually meant it. "You just look a lot like someone I knew."

"Katherine," she said, not really a question; and again saw that twitch at the corner of his mouth.

"Katherine," he agreed, and they both stayed silent for a long moment.

They stood in front of each other on that sidewalk, looking at each other, and Elena found herself noticing how pale his eyes were, though she couldn't say the color. And then the moment was over and Elena felt herself again, barely sixteen and terribly shy when she was talking to strangers. She felt herself blush.

"Look…" she said, glancing down at her feet. "I really have to get home now. Goodnight."

She started walking, a little faster maybe, heels clicking on the pavement.

"Wait."

It sounded like an order, like a plea, low enough that she could barely hear him; and when she glanced at him he was standing where she'd left him, twenty feet or so away, looking as surprised as she felt that he'd called out her.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, amused even, as if he were still trying to understand why he'd just said that. "Nevermind. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she told him, baffled, and she was almost at the end of the street when he spoke up once again.

"See you," Elena heard him say, but the man – Damon – was gone when she turned to look. The words kept echoing in her mind that night, as she went to bed. _See you_, he'd said – was it a menace, or a promise? _See you_, where, when?

_See you_, he'd told her, and Elena dreamed of him that night.

* * *

**A/N:** So, what about it? Yes, no, maybe? My first ever TVD fic, as I'm sure you can tell, unbeataed even, so please leave feedback – any kind of constructive criticisms would be very, _very_ welcome. I'm thinking of continuing it – I have a story planned, but not written, so if you have any suggestions about the plot, go ahead.

Reviews are love, folks. Pretty please?


	2. Chapter 2

**_II._**

_And it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth  
the minor fall, and the major lift…_

* * *

The two weeks after her birthday passed in a heartbeat and Elena's summer was over before she had time to realize it, between mornings of practice and evening showings and lunch barbeques. Her own birthday party ended up being more fun than she'd expected, despite her parents' presence – they ended up mostly keeping to themselves, chatting in a corner with a few family friends.

Jenna had brought her a pair of leather pumps that were probably the most beautiful pair of shoes Elena had ever owned in her life, and smuggled beer into the living room for the kids with a wink and a grin; even John had showed up, wishing her happy birthday with a sort of wistful smile on his lips.

All that had been a week ago; and today, on the last Saturday of summer vacation, Elena Gilbert was busy missing Taylor Cooper's back-to-school party to attend an engagement dinner at the Fells' house.

"What's the point of an engagement _dinner_, anyway?" Caroline said during the car ride, a question to no one. "A wedding shower, I get it, is fun and you get gifts. A bachelorette party, even, but this _thing_'s only purpose is to show off. It's just _tacky_."

Elena held a chuckle. Her friend might have loved showing off every bit as much as Margaret Fell seemed to, but bad taste was an unforgivable sin in Caroline Forbes's book. Grayson let out a laugh from his post in the driving seat. "Jenna said the exact same thing. Thank God that she's not here, or we wouldn't hear the end of it."

"I knew there was a reason why I like your aunt, Elena." Caroline stage-whispered. "She's cool."

They exchanged a grin and got out of the car, only the two of them standing on the green lawn in their prettiest sundresses, her parents close behind. Jeremy had begged off saying he still needed to buy new clothes for school – and excuse Elena wished she could use herself – and Caroline had showed up on the Gilberts' doorstep asking for a ride when her mother had been called out of town to investigate a suspected hit-and-run.

The Fell house managed to be even more pretentious than the Lockwood mansion, even if it was smaller, but the dinner itself inside was fairly relaxed. They picked a spot on a small loveseat in a corridor, and spent an hour chatting back and forth.

"Kind of like practicing for lunch in the cafeteria on Monday," Elena said, and Caroline let out a sigh.

"Don't remind me. Did you get your schedule yet? We _got _Mrs. Mallory. First period." She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "That woman _hates_ me. My _GPA_ will drop like a stone and I'll get kicked out of the team, I know it."

"Mmh." Elena's eyes dropped to the plat in her lap, and she started shifting around cake with her fork, trying to find the right words. "Are you sure you aren't just worrying too much?" And then, just as soon as the words had passed her lips, _because this doesn't sound lame at all, Elena_.

"Ugh."

She pointedly avoided to answer, and ate a big chunk of the cake. "Have some, Care, 's good."

"Look, daddy's coming picking me, he's outside," Caroline told Elena. "We're going to do some shopping. You can come with us if you need to get out of here."

"Oh, don't worry." Elena had never liked Bill Forbes. He'd left the town, and the daughter who obviously adored him, citing the need to escape Mystic Fall's closed-minded gossip, but he'd ended up trading his hometown in suburban Virginia for an even smaller community in the heart of the Bible Belt, and Elena had seen Caroline cry one time too many to believe her father's excuses.

"No problem," she repeated. "I'll stay here . It's not that bad."

In fact it was; especially after Caroline left. The conversation was dull and the atmosphere noisy, and she didn't particularly get along with any of the people her age she knew – except for Tyler, whom she liked well enough, but he'd disappeared early on, probably to escape his father's watchful eyes.

It was just plain boring, and Elena decided to go get some more of that fancy food just to have something to do, wishing _she_ was the one on a shopping spree, instead of Jeremy. Still, the cake wasn't all bad, cold to the right point and sinfully sweet; she took a small bite after the other, and lost herself in her thoughts.

"And we meet again."

His voice was smooth and low, a soft purr, and took Elena completely by surprise. She winced, startled, and made a face as her plastic fork fell from her hand to land on her lap, cake and all.

Only then Elena raised her head to look at the person standing in front of her.

"You scared me," she said

"Yes, I can see that."

It was _him_, Damon-from-her-birthday, the beautiful man with the incredibly pale eyes who'd called her with another woman's nameand told her they would see each other soon.

_Well, here we are_, Elena thought. Here he was, standing right in front of her, looking impossibly smug, and she could almost feel the wheels in her own brain spinning. Was he a family friend of the Fells'? A relative, perhaps? She was definitely sure they'd never met before.

"You made me ruin my dress." She told him, and he didn't bother looking sorry.

"It's a really tiny spot, I can't even see it," he offered. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

And he was on Caroline's recently vacated spot before she'd even had time to answer, close enough that his arm brushed against her shoulder with every breath.

"Oh, go ahead," Elena told him with all the sarcasm she could muster, and he smirked.

"So, Damon," she asked. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Mingling. Drinking. Talking with you." Their faces were only a few inches away, and still she couldn't decide which color his eyes were. A sort of silvery blue, maybe?

"Do you even _know_ Margaret Fell?" Elena asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of her voice.

"I don't." he gave her a lazy smile, and spoke up again before she had time to ask him to clarify. "Do you?"

"Went to school with my aunt." _And she used to date her brother_, Elena thought, remembering the amount of Logan Fell-related drama that had gone on in Jenna's life. "But she went to UGA for college and she's getting married in Augusta and moving there, so good riddance."

Damon laughed. "Why would anyone ever leave this charming little town, right?"

There was an undertone of _something_ in his voice that she couldn't quite figure out. A hint of conceitedness, maybe, the innate self-assurance of a well-traveled man confronted with the dull reality of a life in the countryside; but there was more to it. Longing, she decided, and regret.

"You did," she found herself saying, with a certainty she hadn't know she had; and he flinched. "I mean, you're from here originally, right?"

"Right."

_Here I am, _Elena thought,_ having a nice, cryptic conversation with a complete stranger._ _Shoulda gone shopping_.

"Look, Damon, don't you think you're taking this whole mysterious stranger thing a little too far?"

She'd asked more out of sheer frustration and impatience than anything else, and was surprise to receive a smirk and a raised eyebrow for an answer.

"Mysterious, I like it. And stranger, I thought we were staring to know each other."

"Oh, don't give me that." Elena said. "You keep doing your absolute best to be creepy, refuse to give me a straight answer about anything, and on top of that, I don't even know your last name."

He gave out another smirk, one that made Elena want to slap him in the face. She wondered briefly if he'd done rehearsals in front of a mirror; no one could look _that_ annoying without practice.

"You haven't told me yours," Damon pointed out, matter-of-factly, and she felt a shot of embarrassment going through her. He was right, she _hadn't_ – but then again, it had been years since she'd last had need to introduce herself. Elena's circle of acquaintances was limited to her old school friends and some friends of the family; and they already knew who she was.

"I'm sorry," she told him. "We all know each other here, I'm so used to it I forgot to introduce myself."

She turned – or tried to, the seat so small she'd had to twist not to end in Damon's lap – and held out a hand.

"Elena Gilbert," she said. "Nice to meet you."

She thought she'd seen his eyes widen at that, just a little; but a moment later his smile was firm in place. He took her hand.

"It's a pleasure."

* * *

"Elena Gilbert," she said. "Nice to meet you."

And Damon thought, _of-fucking course_.

_Elena Gilbert, look at that_. He remembered old Jonathan, so prim-and-proper back in 1864, and briefly wondered how would the man have reacted if someone had told him that, down the line, he would end up with a perfect replica of Katherine Pierce in his family tree.

_Not well, definitely_. That would have been interesting to say.

Elena Gilbert was holding her pretty little hand to him, in what little space there was between their bodies in that small love seat, not unlike how Katherine would have done – _had done_, so many times, so long ago. But this girl's hand was darkened by the sun and sporting the ladylike calluses of an athlete, nails painted a light silver; and Damon found himself welcoming the difference.

Still, he brushed her hand with his lips all the same, almost without thinking.

"It's a pleasure," he said, and she flushed slightly at the gesture, her cheeks pink with the unease of inexperience.

_Not like Katherine at all_.

"Damon Salvatore," he offered with a practiced smile, putting her at ease again. "You probably know my uncle Zach." She probably did; the Founding Families had become even more of a closed, incestuous bunch than they had been back in the Eighteen Hundreds. Margaret Fell had definitely had the right idea in moving to Augusta, leaving Mystic Falls behind.

"I know him," the girl, _Elena_, said. "So, you're living with him now?"

"Yep," Damon said, mentally picturing Zach's face on their future meeting, their first one in a long time. _That'll be fun_.

He hadn't had the time to stop by the house yet, not to mention to move in, busy as he had been going through old spell books and locating that crystal. Someone on the Founders' Council had it, probably, but did they know what it was? That was the reason why he'd gotten into a Mystic Falls society party in the first place, to put a face to the family names and to figure out which one _believed_, and who did not.

It had been going fairly easy, getting himself invited in as some girl's escort and throwing around his name and connection to Zach quite a lot – Damon had avoided him on purpose, but by now voices of his presence had certainly reached his nephew's ears by now, and he was just about ready to shit himself with fear. _Woulda loved to be a fly on the wall for that_, Damon found himself musing; but he had better things to do.

Things like talking to Elena Gilbert, for example, Elena who looked every bit as fresh and innocent as Katherine had, once upon a time; and the resemblance had almost been enough cause for him to kill her there and then, to rip apart the flesh and draw blood, yet another death left in his wake.

But that had passed soon enough._ You're staring_, she'd told him, bold and beautiful, and now he was curious, terribly so; more than he could remember being in forever.

"You wanna get out of here?" he asked. "C'mon, you've been looking miserable, and I now it's not because of me. I can give you a ride home."

And he would do exactly that, Damon realized, surprising himself. Make small talk and drop her home and drive away whistling; and not because it would have been a bad idea to kill her when he was trying to keep a low profile, and not even because he was just _so bored_.

He wanted to know what made her _tick_, how she acted and thought and dreamt, how different she was from Katherine, and yet similar at the same time.

It was, he decided suddenly, the prefect project to spend these next few months on.

"So?" Damon looked at her expectantly. "I'm offering you a chance of escape here."

"I should go tell my parents before I leave."

Right, _parents_. Just how _old_ was she? He'd gotten horrible at guessing ages, even though he felt somehow justified in that.

"You do that. Tell 'em you're catching a ride with a friend." Damon's eyes found Elena's and he gave her a _shove_, barely a hint of it. She already wanted to, he could tell, almost as intrigued as he was.

"I promise I'm not going to kill you and dump your body in the woods, Elena," he told her, chuckling at the sheer irony of it, tasting the way her name felt on his tongue. "If I wanted do, I'd already done it the other night."

She sent him an half-hearted glare that made him snicker even more. "Right."

Elena stood up and took her things with her, making her way among the crowd. He raised his voice slightly, called out to her retreating back.

"I'll wait for you outside."

She didn't show any signs of having heard, but still found his car easily only a handful of minutes later.

"I like your car," she said, giving an appreciative glance to it as she into the front seat.

"Most people do."

"I bet," she gave out a chuckle. "Okay, turn left now."

Damon turned his head to look at her, half-crouched in her seat, with her head resting on her hand, a dark curtain of hair between them. She was looking at the road as they passed by, a cheek brushing against the cold glass of the window; she looked so young.

"How old are you?" he found himself asking.

She looked at him, as surprised as he felt at the question. "Sixteen," she said, slowly, almost embarrassed.

_Sixteen_. So young, so _achingly_ young. Damon remembered Stefan at sixteen, how his brother had almost cried when he'd left for the front; but yet he couldn't remember himself at that age, so long ago. How it had felt, forever ago.

Elena looked as though she expected a follow up to the conversation, and he wondered what could be the adequate, socially acceptable answer to that. _You don't look it_, maybe, she was still young enough to want to look older. Offering his own age, perhaps; but that would mean opening himself to a potentially endless list of personal questions he hadn't prepared for.

_Ugh, social conventions_. _So boring_.

"And you still need people to drive you around?"

She took it as the teasing it was meant to be, and grinned. "If you're fishing for thanks, you could've been a little more subtle."

"Yeah, don't thank me. I'm just the chauffeur guy." The car came to a halt in front of the traffic light. "Where to, Miss?"

"Left. And then the second to the right,"

"And straight on till morning. Got it."

He paid particular attention to the directions she gave him – after all, he would need to find her house again. They weren't done yet, not by a long shot.

"So, how long are you staying in town?" Elena asked, and then. "Wait, that's the house, there. Slow down, please."

"A while." A couple of months to find the crystal, at least – getting a head start never hurt. The comet would return in a year, but Damon figured he could find a way to pass the time. "A few months, at least."

He pulled into the driveway she'd pointed at, parking in front of a white, two story house. "Here we go."

"Right." She turned to look him in the eyes, gave out an hesitant smile. "Thanks a lot for the ride, I was going crazy in there."

"You're welcome." He could barely remember the last time he'd said that, to anyone. So polite, so civil, so _human_; and still so fascinating, the way novelties always were.

"Look…" she began, playing with her hair and shifting in her seat. And then she _beamed_, a full smile that lightened up her whole face; and in that instant Damon was acutely aware of how stunning she was – not a simple curiosity, not just Katherine's living, breathing double, but a beauty in her own right.

He blinked and shook his head, trying to rid himself of his thoughts. _Still a girl_, he told himself, _and not worth the risk_.

_Besides, can't play with her if she's broken_.

"Sorry." Judging by the look in her eyes, he'd definitely missed something. "You were saying?"

"Figures, I try to be nice and you don't even listen to me," she sighed theatrically.

"I _was_ saying, if you'd like to come in and, dunno, have something. Coffee, real food, stuff. But I think I'm changing my mind now."

"No, thank you," Damon told her, almost surprising himself. But he had a whole _year_ of waiting ahead of him, and things were always more fun when they dragged out slowly; a lesson he'd learned a century ago and Stefan had never quite managed to understand.

"I kind of have something to do now," moving in, maybe. It was about time. "Can I take a rain check on that?"

"Yeah," she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and made to get out of the car. "Sure. Do you want me to leave you my number, or…"

"No need," he interrupted. "I'll see you around." Why making things too easy, after all? _A whole year, and nothing better to do_.

"I know where you live now, remember." Damon added, and she made a face.

"And here we are, again pulling the stranger card. I have to warn you, it's getting creepy." But she was smiling again as she said it, light and beautiful, and Damon watched her as she waltzed to the front door in that pink sundress. She waved goodbye as she went in, and that was the moment he knew he would never, ever get bored in Mystic Falls.

He found himself humming as he drove away.

Things were looking up.

* * *

**A/N:** This is now officially a WIP. Things will pick up in a couple of chapters, and I'm so looking forward to writing pretty much anything with Damon and Elena's parents in it because they totally _know_. I'm also trying to figure out how to handle the Elena/Matt situation because I hate OOCness and don't want to rush things too much.  
So, what do you think? Let me know in a review!

PS: Is anyone up for beta reading/ knows a good beta? I'm new to the fandom, but I could really use one.


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